A. Belyaev - Classics fantasy – 7. Stories-2

In parks beautiful booths – book, snack, confectionery, with mineral waters, fruit are seen here and there. But, Fritz, take heart, my friend, I will strike you the most terrible news: not only in the city, but also in all city there is no tobacco booth, any tobacco shop, any cigar, a cigarette, a tube! Isn’t that so, “it is awful”? !

– Would you like to pass here here, to the right – Nick offered.

We turned to the shady chestnut avenue. It brought us to quite wide round platform with the fountain in the middle. The platform was surrounded by skillfully made statues of leaders of the world proletariat and several groups. In realistic and at the same time simple and clear symbols they represented the main stages of fight of the proletariat and creation of socialism. About this platform of a sculpture it would be possible to write the whole book… yes it, apparently, and it is written. I was surprised and delighted.

– Who creator of these magnificent statues? – I asked the conductor.

– Workers of our plants – he answered simply – among them is many excellent musicians, sculptors, painters, poets.

– But the school is necessary here, and the school demands time, persistent work for overcoming the equipment.

– Well, and that? – Nick asked. And he explained that all this result of reasonable use of leisure of which the socialist worker has more, than at the worker of the bourgeois countries.

– We work only several hours, and we assume to work even less. At the correct organization of work, production and distribution what exist at us it is quite enough to provide us to all necessary, but do not think that we use the leisure only for an entertainment and rest. If it was so, we would go not forward, and back and socialism would create only stagnation of stupid content. No, our leisure is filled with very “energetic” contents. As the old zealous owner owner did not cease to care for the plot of land, for the small economy, and we, without reckoning with time, we care for our socialist economy. We do not cease to care also for those which still groan under a capital yoke. On all this a lot of time, perhaps, not less than two thirds of free time leaves. Then physical culture, then occupations favourite arts and, at last, entertainments.

By the way, whether you know that we already created a new narcomat – culture and life which deals with issues of the most reasonable use of working leisure and the organization of new life? Thanks to reasonable use of leisure at us almost each worker has several specialties. One went to science, others – to art. We have firemen-chemists and plumbers-journalists, the turner-astronomers, milling-machine operators-sculptors. Does not disturb one another at all. Exclusive talents – musicians, poets, writers – were granted the right to be engaged only in art. But even the most gifted of them periodically come back to factory: work change, according to them, not only does not affect adversely creativity, but even stimulates it.

Here I dropped a hint of doubt:

– I can understand that, say, the coppersmith can be an astronomer, even the painter. But whether the fireman can vykholit the gentle flexible fingers necessary for the violin virtuoso? Whether the coalminer-miner can be a pianist?

– Well, so they will be not musical virtuosos, but astronomers – smiling, Nick answered. – However every year the car more and more facilitates heavy physical work and thus protects a human body from an excessive posterization. I do not say any more that a number of productions demands thin, sensitive as from the pianist of fingers – for example, production of exact tools, pocket watch, tungsten threads for electric bulbs. Of course, there are difficulties which we cannot overcome still. You see before yourself not notorious “paradise on the earth” but only the improved human society. The facts, however, it is available: simple workers created these statues, workers play in our theaters, sing in the opera, paint pictures, produce in the manual way graceful bagatelles for decoration of our dwellings and public buildings in free time. From an accordion, from “bayan” the worker rose to a difficult electric symphonic grand piano with three keyboards, pedals and mass of registers, and he owns this tool not worse, than the machine… Well, and now I will show you the center of our city.

– Everything you have a center?

– Yes, but it has absolutely other value, than in the old cities. There lived aristocrats, here at us are located… However, you will see now!

But before we reached Revolution Square, I had to stop once again. We approached a wall of the turning green bushes which were cut through by the narrow asphalted path. Having taken several steps, I screamed from delight: before us there was the real dwarfish Japanese garden. As a matter of fact, it was the ravine, but that was made by culture with this ravine! On its slopes streamed and cheerfully small falls jumped, on a bottom the pure stream proceeded, falling into a reservoir with the fountain in the middle and red small fishes in water: through a stream easy graceful bridges were thrown here and there. The arbors twisted with an ivy attracted in a dense shadow, among greens and flowers small statues of children, swans, animals were seen. The second reservoir, in the corner, had a great sculptural group – the small child, chubby as cupid, gave on a watering place couple of young lions who bent on a watering place as the drinking cats. And flowers, flowers! Cascades of flowers!.

– I remember still that time – Nick told – when on this place there was a thrown wild ravine where the nettle yes a burdock grew. And here what we made. It was the invention of children.

We slowly passed “ravine”, rose by other party and at once got on the wide platforms which are filled in with the sun. There was a tennis, soccer, пушбол, the basketball, volleyball and is a lot more others, unknown to me, sports. All platforms were full players – women, men, young and old.

– Here it is never empty – Nick told me.

I could not but stop. Sports were very curious here. According to Nick, some of them were borrowed from the small nationalities inhabiting the USSR. Here, for example, a construction which I would compare to a huge drum in three meters in the diameter and meter height. On this reel there is a young girl in a sports suit and jumps up. The drum springs probably on it thick rubber is tense, and the girl flies up above and above. People around encourage it with approval exclamations. A game consists in that, having jumped up to fall by legs and not to fall, again to jump up and again to fall. Amazingly! This girl seems weightless. It jumps up above and above – on meter, two, three, four, five, six! – and dexterously becomes independent for a new jump. But here jumps become lower and lower, and the girl descends from a drum to the applause. After it does not care the man of average years gets and under approving and derisive exclamations begins to jump up. The second jump, the third jump – and it flies head over heels, falls on a back and begins to fly up up, sideways, the head in the most helpless situation. Laughter and shouts, the loser slips from a drum, having hopelessly waved a hand.

And further fly – more true, jump – through the area people with the attached small balloons which counterbalance the weight of their body. The person “weighs nothing” and at the slightest jump separates from the earth. It is remembered, such sport was invented in America. But what dexterity and accuracy at these flying people! And here something absolutely unprecedented. At athletes on soles springs because these athletes jump as just right to jump only to a flea are attached probably. This sport demands big dexterity and threatens with big risk, than jumps on a drum. But jumpers, obviously, are well trained and dexterously jump through booths and even through small trees.